Friends of Harbors Beaches and Parks

ByMelanie Schlotterbeck |October 11, 2017

The non-profit Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, formed twenty years ago this week in the wake of the 1994 bankruptcy, have provided a model of how active residents and citizens can engage with agencies like OC Parks on mission and funding, ultimately improving regional quality of life by protecting important natural community assets. This coming Saturday, October 14th from 5:30 – 8:30 PM, readers can join supporters celebrating at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center in Newport Beach.

ByMelanie Schlotterbeck |June 16, 2017

On June 20, Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks (FHBP) and the Orange County Transportation Agency celebrate the dedication of 1,300 acres of permanently preserved lands. Melanie Schlotterbeck writes that it's a culmination, noting that activist leaders took the long view in 2000 in creating the Green Vision Map that highlighted lands in Orange County that needed to be protected along with a leadership role by partnering with the OCTA to conserve lands through Measure M2, the county half-cent sales tax.

ByMelanie Schlotterbeck |April 22, 2016

Judge David O Carter this week demonstrated real leadership on combating homelessness by getting out into the field and challenging county officials to focus public resources on meeting immediate needs of riverbed residents. Yet will this rare focus last? Could receivership of federal and state funds coming into the County of Orange be on the horizon?

Rashad Al-Dabbagh, who lives in Anaheim and is the founder/director of the Arab American Civic Council, criticizes a decision last week by the U.S. Census Bureau that the 2020 Census would not include a new “Middle Eastern or North African” category in its race and ethnicity data collection for the 2020 Census.

Orange County supervisors step up their attack on public comment at their regular public meetings by pushing taxpayers to the end of their meeting agenda. The change means offering public comment to county supervisors will take hours of waiting.